Cardano has blown past most L1s, eyeing the $1 mark. Social chatter’s spiking, and the Grayscale ETF filing is giving bulls something to cheer about. Is ADA finally ready to run, or is this just another head fake?

After five months of chop, Cardano [ADA] finally cleared $0.90 resistance on the third attempt. Social Volume also surged 20k+, at press time, signaling renewed trader interest.

Technically, momentum hasn’t fully kicked, leaving room for spot demand before hitting the next supply cluster. With Grayscale filing for a spot ADA ETF, both on-chain and sentiment signals are aligning.

Whale activity is heating up too: $100k+ transactions jumped from 86 to 1,000+ in a week, signaling heavy accumulation.

That kind of move can create short-term liquidity squeezes, explaining ADA’s 30%+ weekly gains.

All in all, that’s a clear sign of strength. 

ADA is showing relative outperformance vs. Bitcoin [BTC] and its L1 peers. The 15%+ 24-hour surge on both daily and monthly charts points to fresh altcoin rotation, especially as the ADA/BTC ratio hits a five-month high.

Coupled with that, whale inflows, and rising Social Volume all support continued upside, setting the stage for a $1 liquidity test. The question now is whether this is a real breakout or just short-term exhaustion.

Zoom out, ADA’s 71% quarterly gain is impressive, trailing Ethereum’s [ETH] 90%+ only slightly. At the same time, it’s outperforming Solana [SOL] by 50%+, showing strong relative strength among L1s.

Yet, price still hasn’t breached the $1 supply cluster. Two quarters in, will the third attempt trigger a breakout? On-chain flows and derivatives liquidity accumulation suggest a potential short-term squeeze in play.

The twist: Cardano’s Open Interest has jumped 25%+ to $1.88 billion in the past 24 hours alone.

That’s more than 5x the growth of the largest altcoin, which sits at 4.35%, signaling elevated leverage and crowded positioning.

Put simply, ADA’s move looks leverage-driven rather than spot-led. 

Cardano’s social volume and whale inflows spiked as the market flipped risk-on, though whale transaction count has already cooled to 937, hinting at early profit-taking.

This sets up a volatility trap: Two dense yellow liquidity clusters below the current spot creates potential feedback loops, making a third breakout attempt from ADA’s slump technically challenging.